Workflow and process management solutions for mortgage default service using Aspen Workflow ® software

Case Study:
Assess Ireland chooses Aspen Grove Vehicle Inspection Management System (VIMS)

About Assess Ireland:
Assess Ireland is a grouping of assessment companies located throughout the country. It came together to offer the insurance companies a “one-stop-shop” for requesting assessment services and reports. Assess Ireland offers vehicle inspection and auditing services to the insurance industry in Ireland and the UK. It has a network of 18 offices with 58 highly experienced motor assessment engineers.

Assess Ireland’s Needs:
The problems facing Assess Ireland were manifold and included the following:

How to provide a standardized service across multiple providers.
How to speed up the turn-around time from request to report delivery.
How to measure performance of service in an equitable and standard way.
How to provide consolidated reporting to the insurer clients.
How to communicate to multiple offices located remotely.
How to integrate to PC-based reporting tools used by engineers.
How to integrate to insurer systems to obtain instructions electronically instead of by fax or email and then having to re-key data.
How to reduce errors due to re-key of data and manual processing.
How to offer extended services – such as inspection auditing without incurring the same difficulties outlined above.
How to give the client a view of their own files and even offer them the use of the process put in place to manage their own internal staff engineers.
How to ensure that client’s data was never “mixed up” and that one insurer only saw their own files and reports and that one office only saw files and work allocated to them.

Aspen Grove’s Solution:
Aspen Workflow®, a web-based Workflow toolkit was the ideal solution to address all of the business challenges outlined by Assess Ireland. The result was the creation of VIMS, now the de facto vehicle inspection management solution in place in the Irish market place and used by insurers such as Hibernian, AXA, Alliance, Royal and Sun Alliance, Europa General as well as other organisations with vehicles inspection requirements such as MIBI (Motor Insurers Bureau of Ireland) and PIAB (Personnel Injuries Assessment Board).

VIMS is a flexible, robust, secure, Internet-based, business to business application that has enabled Assess Ireland to fulfil its commitments to its clients on a nationwide basis.

The insurers or other customers issue instructions to VIMS. VIMS automatically allocates work to the appropriate branch office based on geography or insurer rules. The local offices allocates the work to an individual engineer. The engineer receives the work allocation electronically to their own local PC. They then arrange to do the inspection and record the estimates in the estimation tool used In the Irish market place. This tool is called Glassmatix.

VIMS is fully integrated to Glassmatics such that when the engineer completes their report, it is automatically submitted back to VIMS along with photographs and all the relevant information.
VIMS then submits the report back to the insurers. The insurers claim handlers view the reports directly online in VIMS or through their own claims management system, having received the report from VIMS.
All of the stakeholders on VIMS log into the system through a standard web browser over the Internet. There is no maintenance or installation of systems locally.

As a result:
VIMS has enabled Assess Ireland to:

Double its work load with 50% less administrative staff.
Provide standardized reporting across the nation.
Improve the quality of service by implementing audit checks and speeding up the entire process.
Reduce the average delivery of reports from 6 working days to 2.5.
Provide the insurance industry with audit and fraud data on vehicles the could not previously be cross-referenced.
Access and allocate work anywhere in the country.
Be proactive with clients and provide benchmark reporting on performance before the clients even request it.
Provide new and enhanced services without having to rebuild or implement new process management solutions. For example repair audits, salvage management and more.
Enable clients to view their reports online themselves and/or receive them electronically into their own claims handling system.
Provide a solution to clients that is cost effective such that Assess Ireland can provide improved service at a lower cost.
Define the standard communication formats (XML) for the Irish insurance industry for communicating instructions and submitting reports.